A bout 880,000 stillbirths and 1.2 million newborn deaths occur each year in Sub-Saharan Africa. Experts say malaria and STIs increase the risk of miscarriage. According to the study, women who had two or more doses of intermittent preventive treatment with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (IPTp-SP), compared to zero to one dose, had their risk of contracting malaria reduced by 76 per cent, while the risk of getting gonorrhoea or chlamydia was reduced by 94 per cent.